A CBI Special Court on Wednesday dismissed the bail application of Haryana Civil Service officer Shilpi Pattar, who was held in a graft case by CBI on August 5.

In its reply to the bail application, the CBI had mentioned that the handwash report from CFSL had confirmed the marks of chemical on the notes seized, with the hands of the accused, including Shilpi Pattar and her husband. However, the defence counsel of Pattar told the court that money was recovered from her husband and Pattar was falsely implicated. The CBI, however, stated that the voice recording of Pattar with the complainant while she was having one-to-one conversation during the raid also matched.

The CBI told the court that the accused has been deputed on a senior post and if granted bail, she could influence witnesses in the case which may hamper investigation. The defence counsel, on the other hand, said Pattar had been falsely implicated as no recovery had been made from the accused.

The court dismissed Pattar’s bail plea, stating that investigation of the case was still on and witnesses, who are employees of the accused department, were yet to record their statements to the CBI.

Shilpi Pattar, Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) of Chandigarh, her husband Dhiraj and middleman G S Brar were held by the CBI after the agency conducted a raid at her house on the night of August 5. The arrests were made following a property dispute between the complainant and his brother and the matter was listed for hearing in the Court of the SDM (East), Chandigarh.

The complainant had alleged that the SDM had issued directions for sealing of the disputed property at Sector 26 here on August 3 without hearing him. The complainant further alleged that the officer, through a middleman, was demanding Rs 5 lakh for desealing the disputed property. However, the deal was struck at Rs 2 lakh. A trap was then laid after the complainant approached the CBI.

The CBI laid a trap and caught the private person (middleman) and the SDM while demanding and accepting the alleged bribe of Rs 75,000 as first instalment. The husband of the accused officer was also arrested as Rs 50,000 of the bribe money was recovered from him and Rs 25,000 of from the private person, said a CBI official.
An amount of Rs 2 lakh was seized from Pattar’s residence in different sachets in figures of Rs 10,000, Rs 25,000, Rs 50,000, etc. by CBI sleuths.